India Morning Call-Global Markets

EQUITIES
NEW YORK - U.S. stocks tumbled on Monday alongside other
risky assets globally as tensions in Ukraine and Russia
escalated after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared he had
the right to invade his neighbour.
The S&P 500 had closed at a record high on Friday, and
profit-taking was expected on Wall Street due to the political
uncertainty. The index found some support when it fell to 1,840,
but broke below it after the first attempt. The S&P 500 extended
losses in early afternoon trading and then recovered slightly to
close above the support level.
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LONDON - Britain's top share index fell to a two-week low
on Monday, led down by asset management firms as stocks most
exposed to emerging markets fell on increasing tensions in
Ukraine.
The possibility of war between Russia and Ukraine hit stocks
that are particularly sensitive to optimism over global markets,
such as fund managers Schroders and Aberdeen Asset
Management, which fell 4.6 percent and 4.3 percent
respectively.
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TOKYO - Trading in Nikkei stock index futures <0#JNI:> was
briefly halted in late Tuesday morning, the Osaka Securities
Exchange said, adding that it was looking into the cause of the
outage.
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HONG KONG - Hang Seng Index set to open up 0.2
percent.
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FOREIGN EXCHANGE
SYDNEY - The yen held onto chunky gains early on Tuesday,
having been squeezed higher as skittish investors dumped riskier
assets amid tensions over Russian military intervention in
Ukraine.
The euro traded at 139.30 yen after falling 0.8
percent on Monday, while the dollar fetched 101.43 yen
not far from a one-month low of 101.20.
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TREASURIES
NEW YORK - U.S. Treasury debt prices rose on Monday as
Russia's military intervention in Ukraine boosted demand for
safe-haven investments like U.S. government debt, pushing yields
down to their lowest in almost a month.
Russia took a financial hit over its military intervention
in neighbouring Ukraine, with its stocks, bonds and currency
plunging as President Vladimir Putin's forces tightened their
grip on the Russian-speaking Crimea region.
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COMMODITIES
GOLD
SINGAPORE - Gold held near its strongest level in four
months on Tuesday after Russia's military intervention in
Ukraine prompted safe-haven buying.
President Barack Obama is holding a high-level meeting at
the White House about Ukraine with senior military and national
security advisers, a White House official said on Monday.
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BASE METALS
SYDNEY - London copper steadied on Tuesday, holding not far
off three-month lows touched the day before as widespread risk
aversion tainted sentiment already damaged by signs of shrinking
manufacturing growth in top metals user China.
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OIL
NEW YORK - Crude prices rose more than $2 a barrel on Monday
to the highest level since September as tensions over Russian
military intervention on the Crimean peninsula rattled oil
markets.
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(Reporting by Indulal PM)